Half Training, week something - PFTW

Last week....

Monday: 5k/5 miles
Recap of the almost-5k here. Results were posted earlier this week....

LOL at 7:31 pace.

Immediately after, I swore I would be retiring from 5k's forever, because I'd rather run a marathon than sprint for 3.1 miles. But - since this course was shooooooort, I'm kind of thinking I might try a re-do in December at the Renegade Santa Run. Based on last year's results, there's an outside shot at an age group placing....

Tuesday: Rest?

Wednesday: More rest?

Thursday: Long run
On paper, this run went well. 14 miles total, broken into one hour warm-up, 6 miles at race pace (9:33 for me), and cool down to finish. However, I was MESSED UP. I didn't drink enough, and was sweating a ton, and probably started not-well-hydrated, and by mile 7 or 8, I had a giant headache. I ignored it for awhile, but eventually, any time I tried to drink, I just felt gross and sloshy. Somehow, I also forgot to bring any fuel with me, which is RIDICULOUS, since long runs = salted caramel gu time, so how is that even possible??

I was supposed to run 15, but quit at 14. My overall pace was great, and my BODY felt fine, I am just dumb. I didn't go through one bottle of water during the run; after, I drank 3 bottles of Nuun, plus a giant diet coke, and didn't pee for hours and hours and hours. I am not a professional.

Friday: 3 easy
Weather was beautiful - cool, overcast, a little drizzly - so I did a quick 3 easy from the Target parking lot, before picking up a few things.

Saturday: planned off day
#1 raced Saturday, more on this below. Her race was mid-afternoon, which is really just the worst time of them all, and it just kills the entirety of the day.

Sunday: rest
Saturday's spectating beat me down hard.

Total: 22 miles
Zero cross-training. Oops. I just didn't really feel like it - the 5k killed me pretty dead, and so did that long run. Lame. I guess these videos and push-ups are going to be extra terrible this week.


This week....

I originally planned to start taper this week, buuuuuut *spoiler alert* there's a fair shot of #1's team heading to states the same weekend as the race I wanted to do, but.... I'm doing a higher volume than I initially planned, but nothing craaazy, just in case.

Monday: 3-4 easy
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 6 strides
Thursday: 4 easy
Friday: 8-10 easy
Saturday: off
Sunday: off

**********************************************************************
XC updates....

#1 ran CIF Southern Section prelims Saturday at Mt. Sac. Mt. Sac is a notoriously hard course - there's three significant hills starting with a set of switchbacks just after the first mile.

The H and I walked the course during lunch break, and holy crap, it was HARD to walk. I have no idea how these kids (i'm so old, "these kids") run this course, and run it so faaaaaast.

Simi Valley, home of Sarah Baxter, is in our division, so I got to see her race just before #1 did. To the surprise of no one, she destroyed the field.

from Instagram: "Sarah Freakin' Baxter"

She is really impressive to watch. There's no one, anywhere near her, and she barely looks like she's making an effort. Totally unrelated to this post or race, but here is a GREAT article on Sarah's course record run from last year.

#1's team raced a bit later, and came in 3rd in their heat, which advances them on to finals next weekend. True to the course, #1 breezed through the first mile well under 6 minutes, because she has super-teleportation-powers.

Somewhere on the switchbacks, she lost her teammate - it's a tricky course, and one she was new on.

Somewhere in here, she started struggling with something in her eyeball. After the race, we saw her coach meet her at the finish line with her bag, frantically digging through it, and I had no idea what was happening. Apparently, she tried to tell her coach she got some funk in her eyeball, and was having trouble seeing/not dying, but the coach thought she was saying she needed her inhaler (she doesn't use an inhaler, lol). I am always a little nervous about the portions of the race where we can't see her, so I am greatly comforted knowing that her coaches are watching out for her too. Awwwww.

Anyway. She said she really enjoyed the course (WHAT), so I'm psyched to see them advance and see what happens next weekend. Several of the girls on the team this year are new to Mt Sac, so hopefully this was a good training run for them, in prep for next week, and with some experience on the course, they can really make some strides in their performance.

Get it? Strides?

adorable. I love this picture.

So, as much as it kind of feels like XC is the season that just keeps on going.... I'm really excited, and we're having a lot of fun with it. It's pretty great seeing the girls' enthusiasm and camaraderie.

Yaaaaaaay, maybe-Fresno?